Borderlands: A Miserable Failure of a Video Game Adaptation
Video game adaptations have, for a long time, held a shaky reputation in Hollywood. However, recent years have seen a noticeable shift, with more successful transpositions of beloved games onto the big screen and streaming platforms. Titles like "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Super Mario Bros.," "Detective Pikachu," "Arcane," "The Last Of Us," and "Castlevania" have demonstrated that video game stories can be translated effectively into cinematic narratives, even capturing the spirit and essence of their source material.
But just as the "Borderlands" video game series is known for its humor, a new adaptation has emerged to serve as a stark reminder of the pitfalls of taking beloved games and transforming them into mindless, money-grabbing, Hollywood fare. Eli Roth’s "Borderlands," released in August 2022, has not only failed to capture the spirit of the games but has also been met with near-universal derision from critics.
The film currently holds a dismal 3% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers expressing unanimous agreement that it is a misfire on nearly every level. "The biggest problem with Eli Roth’s Borderlands isn’t that it’s bad, it’s that it’s not interesting enough to be bad. It’s mass-produced pabulum," writes William Bibbiani for The Wrap. "All the edges have been sanded down so it can be safe and mainstream, but they went too far and there’s almost nothing left. It’s technically a movie based on Borderlands. Not much else."
IGN’s Matt Donato echoes this sentiment: "The hyper-stylized flair of the Borderlands games is replicated only on the most superficial level, and with a PG-13 rating, all the limb-severing gore, dirty-minded humor, and uniquely deranged themes are replaced by recycled blandness geared toward mass marketability."
"It’s the worst-case-scenario Borderlands movie that goes against everything Borderlands stands for as a series—a miserable failure," he adds.
Reviewers seem to agree that "Borderlands," despite featuring an impressive cast including Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Ariana Greenblatt, fails to leverage their talents and deliver anything beyond a lackluster, bland experience. One point of consensus is that Cate Blanchett, who plays the main character Lilith, the psionic bounty hunter, appears to be having a good time. "Blanchett appears to enjoy striding around in slinky leatherwear with holsters strapped across her hips ready for some lightning-fast gunslinging," writes David Rooney for the Hollywood Reporter. "But the role is thinly drawn, cut from a familiar template of tough, cynical, cool-headed female action figures. Any hope for more of the campy authority Blanchett brought to Thor: Ragnarok goes unrewarded."
The Daily Beast’s Nick Shager adds, "Blanchett barely tries to embody her protagonist as a three-dimensional human being…her cooler-than-cool posturing is painfully affected and unconvincing, as are her faux-badass wisecracks and threats."
While the film itself is met with near-universal disdain, the consensus seems to be, as Rolling Stone’s David Fear puts it, "What we want is a time machine, which would allow us to travel back to the moment Ms. Blanchett first picked up the “script” for this unholy disaster and plead: Don’t do it."
The film’s failure to capture the core essence of "Borderlands" has left critics bewildered and disappointed. "Go play the Borderlands shooters. Go watch six-hour gameplay videos of it on YouTube. Go get several chlamydia tests back to back. Every one of those options are far more useful and far, far less painful than this," Fear concludes.
The critical response to "Borderlands" serves as a reminder of the inherent challenges in adapting video games into successful film or TV projects. While some franchises, like "Sonic the Hedgehog," "The Last of Us," and "Castlevania," have proven that it is possible to create compelling stories that resonate with both fans and new audiences, "Borderlands" falls short, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the source material and a willingness to capture the spirit of the game, rather than merely imitating its aesthetics and characters.
"Borderlands"‘s failure to translate the unique blend of humor, action, and absurdity from the games into a satisfying cinematic experience leaves us with a cautionary tale: While video game adaptations are evolving and becoming more successful, the path is still fraught with pitfalls. The key to success lies not in simply translating the visuals and characters but in understanding the heart of the game, its unique elements, and its core values, and finding ways to reflect them faithfully in a new medium.
Perhaps the next video game adaptation will take notes from the successes and failures of recent releases and strive to achieve a deeper understanding of the delicate balancing act required to capture the spirit and essence of a beloved game, while also crafting a compelling and engaging story for a broader audience. Until then, we can only hope that "Borderlands" serves as a cautionary tale for future adaptations, reminding us that the road to a successful and faithful translation is still long and winding.
